Facts about Bartolomeu Dias
- 09
Bartolomeu Dias received the title of Dom and a knighthood from King John II upon returning from his 1488 voyage, cementing his status as Portugal's most celebrated navigator.
- 08
Dias's expedition included approximately three caravels and roughly 170 crew members who endured extreme hardship while charting previously unknown sections of the African coastline.
- 07
Vasco da Gama's 1497 voyage to India built directly upon Bartolomeu Dias's navigational knowledge and charts of the African coast to complete the sea route that Dias had pioneered.
- 06
Bartolomeu Dias's 1487 expedition lasted approximately sixteen months, departing from Portugal in July and returning in December 1488 after traveling roughly 9,650 kilometers along the African coast.
- 05
King John II of Portugal commissioned Bartolomeu Dias's 1488 expedition specifically to find a maritime route to the Indian spice markets, offering substantial rewards for success.
- 04
The Cape of Good Hope, which Bartolomeu Dias rounded in 1488, was originally named Cabo das Tormentas by the Portuguese due to its treacherous waters and storms.
- 03
During his 1500 voyage to Brazil, Bartolomeu Dias drowned off the Cape of Good Hope while commanding the São Cristóvão, the same waters he had famously navigated twelve years earlier.
- 02
A violent storm near the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 forced Bartolomeu Dias to turn back, yet he had already proven the passage to Asia was navigable around Africa's southern coast.
- 01
In 1488, Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias became the first European to round the southern tip of Africa, proving a sea route to India existed.